Roasted Vegetables with Quinoa Salad

This is a perfect weekend dinner, and it’s also great for when you’re lazy to do a lot of prep work. Although the vegetables take a while to roast to perfection, minimal prep work is involved in making this dish.

I omitted oil in this recipe as the veg is flavoursome and delicious on its own, but feel free to spray or sprinkle some olive oil before baking.

The dish is packed full with antioxidants and nutrients. Parsnip is an amazing source of fiber and vitamin C. Sweet potato is abundant in vitamin A. Packed with essential nutrients, beetroots are a great source of fiber, folate (vitamin B9), manganese, potassium, iron and vitamin C.

Quinoa is gluten-free, high in protein and one of the few plant foods that contain all nine essential amino acids. It is also high in fiber, magnesium, B-vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and various beneficial antioxidants.

Another great thing about this recipe is that you can swap these vegetables for other veg more readily available to you. You could roast various types of squash and other root vegetables, peppers, onions, zucchini etc.

If quinoa is not available, the salad could work well with couscous or buckwheat.

Enjoy the deliciousness!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45-60 minutes

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS

ROASTED VEGETABLES

1 medium sized parsnip (cut in 3-4 pieces lengthwise)

6 medium sized carrots (bake whole)

2 large beetroots (bake whole)

2 small sweet potatoes (or 1 large cut in half; bake whole)

1 whole garlic bulb (doesn’t have to be peeled; bake whole)

2 tbsp mustard (preferably whole grain)

4 tbsp maple syrup (or other natural liquid sweetener)

pinch of salt

pinch of turmeric

pinch of black pepper

pinch of paprika

* Adjust seasoning to taste.

QUINOA SALAD

3/4 cup quinoa

2 diced tomatoes

2 chopped spring onions

4 chopped radishes

juice of half a lemon

juice of half a lime

pinch of salt

pinch of black pepper

1 vegetable stock cube

* Adjust seasoning to taste.

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 200 ºC.

Wrap whole beetroots in aluminium foil (individually) and place them onto a baking tray or directly onto the oven rack.

Place the sweet potatoes onto a baking tray and season them (they don’t have to be peeled).

After your sweet potatoes and beetroots have been roasting for 20 minutes, place the rest of the vegetables to the baking tray (a whole garlic bulb, parsnip and carrots). Season to taste.

Whisk together mustard and maple syrup and pour over vegetables (except beetroots). Make sure you pour some mixture over every individual vegetable. Place in the oven.

Leave everything in the oven for further 30-35 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked. Continue roasting until the vegetables are easily pierced with a fork or knife and they are showing crispy, charred bits at the tips and edges.

While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the quinoa salad. Rinse 3/4 cup quinoa under cold water. Add to a pot and add double the amount of water. Bring to boil and then add the vegetable stock cube. After 20 minutes the quinoa will have absorbed the water. Fluff with a fork and leave to cool. Chop the salad vegetables and then mix with the cooked quinoa. Squeeze juice of half a lemon and half a lime and season to taste.

Transfer the vegetables to a serving plate and taste; sprinkle with additional salt or pepper if needed. Cut open the sweet potatoes and cut beetroots in half. Take out garlic cloves and place them on other vegetables. Serve the quinoa salad on the side.